NASA Facts

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas 77058
International Space Station

IS-1997-06-004JSC

January 1997

International Space Station

Russian Space Stations
Introduction
The International Space Station, which will be assembled
between mid-1998 and 2003, will contain many Russian
hardware elements developed in the nearly 30 years of the
Russian space station program. The history of Russian space
stations is one of gradual development marked by upgrades
of existing equipment, reapplication to new goals of
hardware designed for other purposes, rapid recovery from
failures, and constant experimentation. The earliest Salyut
stations were single modules, designed for only temporary
operations. Mir, the most recent station, is a permanent
facility in orbit since 1986 with a base made up of four
separately-launched modules. Additional modules have been
added to now total six laboratory modules and one docking
module, added to allow the Space Shuttle to more easily dock
with the station. U.S. Space Shuttles have been periodically
docking with the Mir since July 1995. U.S. astronauts have
maintained a permanent presence onboard Mir since March
1996 and that presence is expected to continue through 1998.

Prelude to Space Stations (1903-1964)

In 1903, Russian schoolteacher Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
wrote Beyond the Planet Earth, a work of fiction based on
sound science. In it, he described orbiting space stations
where humans would learn to live in space. Tsiolkovsky
believed these would lead to self-contained space settlements
and expeditions to the Moon, Mars, and the asteroids.
Tsiolkovsky wrote about rocketry and space travel until his
death in 1935, inspiring generations of Russian space
engineers.
Soviet engineers began work on large rockets in the 1930s.
In May 1955, work began on the Baikonur launch site in
central Asia. In August 1957, the worlds first
intercontinental ballistic missile lifted off from Baikonur on a
test flight, followed by the launch of Sputnik 1, worlds first
artificial satellite, on October 4, 1957. On
April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin lifted off from Baikonur in the
Vostok 1 capsule, becoming the first human in space.

A year later, Soviet engineers described a space station

comprised of modules launched separately and brought
together in orbit. A quarter-century later, in 1987, this
concept became reality when the Kvant module was added to
the Mir core station.

First-Generation Stations (1964-1977)

First-Generation Stations
Salyut 1
civilian 1971
Unnamed
civilian 1972
Salyut 2
military 1973
Cosmos 557 civilian 1973
Salyut 3
military 1974-75
Salyut 4
civilian 1974-77
Salyut 5
military 1976-77

First space station

Failure
First Almaz station; failure
Failure
Almaz station
Last Almaz station

First-generation space stations had one docking port and

could not be resupplied or refueled. The stations were
launched unmanned and later occupied by crews. There were
two types: Almaz military stations and Salyut civilian
stations. To confuse Western observers the Soviets called
both kinds Salyut.

Salyut 1 station with Soyuz about to dock

The Almaz military station program was the first approved.

When proposed in 1964, it had three parts: the Almaz
military surveillance space station, Transport Logistics
Spacecraft for delivering soldier-cosmonauts and cargo, and
Proton rockets for launching both. All of these spacecraft
were built, but none was used as originally planned.
Soviet engineers completed several Almaz station hulls by
1970. The Soviet leadership ordered Almaz hulls transferred
to a crash program to launch a civilian space station. Work
on the Transport Logistics Spacecraft was deferred, and the
Soyuz spacecraft originally built for the Soviet manned Moon
program was reapplied to ferry crews to space stations.
Salyut 1, the first space station in history, reached orbit
unmanned atop a Proton rocket on April 19, 1971.
The early first-generation stations were plagued by
failures. The crew of Soyuz 10, the first spacecraft sent to
Salyut 1, was unable to enter the station because of a docking
mechanism problem. The Soyuz 11 crew lived aboard Salyut
1 for three weeks, but died during return to Earth because the
air escaped from their Soyuz spacecraft. Then, three firstgeneration stations failed to reach orbit or broke up in orbit
before crews could reach them. The second failed station
was Salyut 2, the first Almaz military station to fly.
The Soviets recovered rapidly from these failures. Salyut
3, Salyut 4, and Salyut 5 supported a total of five crews. In
addition to military surveillance and scientific and industrial
experiments, the cosmonauts performed engineering tests to
help develop the second-generation space stations.

Second-Generation Stations (1977-1985)

Second-Generation Stations
Salyut 6
civilian 1977-82
Salyut 7
civilian 1982-91

Last staffed in 1986

With the second-generation stations, the Soviet space

station program evolved from short-duration to long-duration
stays. Like the first-generation stations, they were launched
unmanned and their crews arrived later in Soyuz spacecraft.
Second-generation stations had two docking ports. This
permitted refueling and resupply by automated Progress
freighters derived from Soyuz. Progress docked
automatically at the aft port, and was then opened and
unloaded by cosmonauts on the station. Transfer of fuel to
the station took place automatically under supervision from
the ground.
A second docking port also meant long-duration resident
crews could receive visitors. Visiting crews often included
cosmonaut-researchers from Soviet bloc countries or
countries sympathetic to the Soviet Union. Vladimir Remek
of Czechoslovakia, the first space traveler not from the U.S.
or the Soviet Union, visited Salyut 6 in 1978.

Visiting crews relieved the monotony of a long stay in

space. They often traded their Soyuz spacecraft for the one
already docked at the station because Soyuz had only a
limited lifetime in orbit. Lifetime was gradually extended
from 60-90 days for the Soyuz Ferry to more than 180 days
for the Soyuz-TM.

Salyut 6: 1977-1982

Salyut 6 Key Facts

The station received 16 cosmonaut crews, including six
long-duration crews. The longest stay time for a Salyut
6 crew was 185 days. The first Salyut 6 long-duration
crew stayed in orbit for 96 days, beating the 84-day
world record for space endurance established in 1974 by
the last Skylab crew.
The station hosted cosmonauts from Hungary, Poland,
Romania, Cuba, Mongolia, Vietnam, and East Germany.
Twelve Progress freighters delivered more than 20 tons
of equipment, supplies, and fuel.
An experimental transport logistics spacecraft called
Cosmos 1267 docked with Salyut 6 in 1982. The
transport logistics spacecraft was originally designed for
the Almaz program. Cosmos 1267 proved that large
modules could dock automatically with space stations, a
major step toward the multimodular Mir station and the
International Space Station.
Salyut 7 Key Facts
Salyut 7, a near twin of Salyut 6, was home to 10
cosmonaut crews, including six long-duration crews.
The longest stay time was 237 days.
Cosmonauts from France and India worked aboard the
station, as did the first female space traveler since 1963.
Thirteen Progress freighters delivered more than 25 tons
of equipment, supplies, and fuel to Salyut 7.
Two experimental transport logistics spacecraft, Cosmos
1443 and Cosmos 1686, docked with Salyut 7. Cosmos
1686 was a transitional vehicle, a transport

tons, and consists of the Mir core, Kvant, Kvant 2, Kristall,

Spektr, Priroda and Docking modules. Mir measures more
than 107 feet long with docked Progress-M and Soyuz-TM
spacecraft, and is about 90 feet wide across its modules.

Salyut 7 with Cosmos 1686 attached

logistics spacecraft redesigned to serve as an experimental

space station module.
Salyut 7 was abandoned in 1986 and reentered Earths
atmosphere over Argentina in 1991.

Third-Generation Station: Mir (1986-present)

Third-Generation Station
Mir civilian 1986-present

First permanent station

Mir is the first permanent space station. The station has

been in orbit for 11 years, and staffed continuously for the
past 7 years. The complex presently weighs more than 100

Mir Module Descriptions

The Mir core resembles Salyut 7, but has six ports
instead of two. Fore and aft ports are used primarily for
docking. Four radial ports in a node at the stations front
are for berthing large modules. The core weighed 20.4
tons at launch in 1986.
Kvant was added to the Mir cores aft port in 1987. This
small, 11-ton module contains astrophysics instruments
and life support and attitude control equipment.
Kvant 2, added in 1989, carries an EVA airlock, solar
arrays, and life support equipment. The 19.6-ton module
is based on the transport logistics spacecraft originally
intended for the Almaz military space station program of
the early 1970s.
Kristall, added in 1990, carries scientific equipment,
retractable solar arrays, and a docking node equipped
with a special androgynous docking mechanism designed
to receive spacecraft weighing up to 100 tons.
Originally, the Russian Buran shuttle, which made one
unmanned orbital test flight in 1988, would have docked
with Mir using the androgynous unit. Space Shuttle
Atlantis used the androgynous unit to dock with Mir for
the first time on the STS-71 mission in July 1995. On
STS-74, in November 1995, Atlantis permanently
attached a Docking Module to Kristalls androgynous
docking unit. The Docking Module improved clearance
between Atlantis and Mirs solar arrays on subsequent
docking flights. The 19.6-ton Kristall module is based
on the transport logistics spacecraft originally designed

Mir Space Station, 1989, with Base Block, center; Kvant module, right; and Kvant-2 module, top

to carry
Soviet soldier-cosmonauts to the Almaz military space
stations.
Spektr was launched on a Russian Proton rocket from the
Baikonur launch center in central Asia on May 20, 1995.
The module was berthed at the radial port opposite
Kvant 2 after Kristall was moved out of the way. Spektr
carries four solar arrays and scientific equipment,
including more than 1600 pounds of U.S. equipment.
The focus of scientific study for this module is Earth
observation, specifically natural resources and
atmosphere. The equipment onboard is supplied by both
Russia and the United States.
Priroda was the last science module to be added to the
Mir, launched from Baikonur on April 23, 1996, it
docked to the space station as scheduled on April 26. Its
primary purpose is to add Earth remote sensing
capability to Mir. It also contains the hardware and
supplies for several joint U.S.-Russian science
experiments.
The Docking Module was delivered and installed by
shuttle mission STS-74 in November 1995, making it
possible for the space shuttle to more easily dock with
Mir. On STS-71 in June 1995, the shuttle docked with
the Kristall module on Mir. However, to make that
docking possible, the Kristall configuration had to be
changed to give the shuttle enough clearance to dock.
Russian cosmonauts performed a spacewalk to movethe
Kristall module from a radial axis to a longitudinal axis,
relative to Mir. After the shuttle departed, Kristall was
moved back to its original location.
Modules for Mirs radial berthing ports first dock at the
front port. Each module carries a manipulator arm which
locks into a socket on Mir. The arm pivots the module into
place at the proper radial port
Mir Key Facts
An important goal of the Mir program has been to
maintain a permanent human space presence. Except or

two brief periods (July 1986-February 1987; AprilSeptember 1989), Russian cosmonauts have lived aboard
Mir continuously for the past 9 years, demonstrating
proven experience in space station operations.
Dr. Valeri Polyakov arrived on Mir on Soyuz-TM 18 in
January 1994 and returned to Earth on Soyuz-TM 20 on
March 21, 1995. He lived in orbit for more than 438
days, a new world record.
Through 1994, 16 long-duration crews lived and worked
on Mir. In all, 19 piloted craft have docked with the
station.
Cosmonaut-researchers from Afghanistan, Austria,
Britain, Bulgaria, the European Space Agency, France,
Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, and Syria have visited
Mir. European and French cosmonauts lived on Mir for
as long as a month. U.S. astronauts typically spend four
months on the station, although U.S. astronaut Shannon
Lucid has had the longest tour onboard, six months in
1996.
More than 40 Progress and Progress-M freighters have
delivered more than 100 tons of supplies and fuel to Mir.
The improved Progress-M occasionally carries a capsule
for returning to Earth a small quantity of experiment
results and industrial products from the station.
Occasionally cargo comes back to Earth with
cosmonauts in Soyuz-TM capsules. Beginning with STS71, the shuttle has returned to Earth more industrial
products and experiment samples than is possible using
the Progress-M capsules or Soyuz-TM. In addition, the
shuttle can be used to return components from Mirs
exterior, such as solar arrays, for studying the effects of
long exposure to space conditionsa capability not
available with Progress-M and Soyuz-TM. Important
lessons from Mir operations and Shuttle-Mir operations
and research are being incorporated into the International
Space Station design and planning.